Arafat’s health condition has deteriorated, Estripeau said.
REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

PARIS. The French authorities are likely to side with the Palestinian Authority in their public dispute with Arafat’s wife over who should have the final say on the ailing leader’s health condition, a move seen as a pre-step to officially declare Arafat’s death, Palestinian sources revealed to IslamOnline.net Tuesday, November 9.

The development comes amid intensive mediation efforts between Suha Arafat, wife of the veteran leader, and the high level Palestinian delegation that arrived in Paris late Monday, aiming to convince Mrs. Arafat to allow the Palestinian Authority to have the final word on Arafat’s health condition in return for “financial concessions”.

The French Foreign Ministry has forwarded a report to President Jacques Chirac highlighting the necessity to grant the Palestinian officials the right to have the final say on the health condition of Arafat due to his status as a statesman and a symbol of a whole people, not just an ordinary private citizen, the sources said.

France has been on turmoil over the past 24 hours, divided between granting Mrs. Arafat the right to have the final word on Arafat’s health condition, as his wife, or to the PA officials, as his political heirs, according to the sources.

Some French officials support granting Mrs. Arafat the right to have the final say, in accordance with the French law that gives the patient’s family the sole authority to take all decisions regarding his health condition once he is comatose.

Others believe PA officials have such right due to his status as a statesman.

Deeper Coma

Within the same context, spokesman for the Percy hospital Christian Estripeau said Tuesday that the ailing Palestinian President’s health condition has deteriorated and the state of coma has become deeper.

“This marks a significant step towards a development whose prognosis is doubtful,” Agence France Presse (AFP) reported.

Palestinian sources described the hospital statement as a pre-step to officially declare the death of the Palestinian leader following the conclusion of the Palestinian delegation’s visit to France.

According to the highly informed Palestinian sources, Arafat’s death would be declared by the French doctors two days following the visit of the Palestinian delegation to France, under a political agreement reached with the French authorities.

The Palestinian delegation in Paris, comprising the Palestinian Liberation Movement Executive Committee secretary general Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki, has already arrived in the Percy military hospital to meet with the ailing Palestinian President.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier had earlier expressed support for allowing the Palestinian delegation to meet the ailing Palestinian President.

“These are old friends of Yasser Arafat.”

“I think it’s simply natural that, in accordance with her, they can meet Yasser Arafat.”

Mediation

Meanwhile, mediation efforts have been intensified between Mrs. Arafat and the Palestinian delegation, in a bid to convince her to give the Palestinian Authority the right to have the final say on Arafat’s health condition in return for “financial concessions”, according to the Palestinian sources.

The talks are likely to lead to a short extension of the deadline of two days after which the Palestinian Authority was supposed to declare Arafat dead, the sources noted.

However, the sources did not rule out the Palestinian Authority unilaterally declaring Arafat’s death in case mediation talks failed.

Doctors in the French military hospital of Percy have told Mrs. Arafat and officials accompanying Arafat that he has passed away, well-placed Palestinian sources told IslamOnline.net on Sunday, November 7.

Palestinian officials have earlier asked the French authorities to keep the news of Arafat’s death under wraps and give them 36 hours, to end Monday, to arrange the home front.

Mrs. Arafat had been refusing to remove the life-support systems the Palestinian leader has been kept on and announce the death of her 75-year-old husband, threatening to file a lawsuit to prevent the Palestinian officials from having the right to declare Arafat’s death.

The sources noted prominent Palestinian figures, trusted by both the Palestinian Authority and Mrs. Arafat, are trying to strike a deal with the wife, giving her some financial interests if she gives the PA the sole authority over Arafat’s death declaration.

Mrs. Arafat had earlier accused senior Palestinian officials of plotting to bury the ailing Palestinian leader alive.

“A handful of people seeking to inherit power are coming to Paris to try and bury Abu Ammar (Arafat) alive. I ask you to look at the extent of the plot,” she told Al-Jazeera news channel Monday.

Arafat arrived in France Friday, October 29, to receive treatment at Percy military hospital, southwestern Paris suburb of Clamart.